Transfers Made By Potential Applicant After February, 2006

Post 18 discusses some of the steps to take when presented with a situation for which transfers have already occurred. The purpose of this post is to expand some of the concepts presented and provide some new curative ideas. I am very often presented with a situation which indicates that a potential applicant has made numerous transfers prior to retaining me. All transfers during the look-back period are aggregated and are deemed to have been made at the time of application (the time a person would be otherwise eligible for Medicaid but for the transfers). The transfer period commences at that time and the various issues presented by such rule are set forth in Post 15. Perhaps the most onerous rule is that the nursing home does not receive Medicaid nor payments from the individual who has exhausted his or her assets.

1. Perhaps, the first ameliorative approach should be to review the exemptions from the transfer rules. The major exemptions are the transfer of home to designated individuals, transfer to a disabled child, transfer for purpose other than Medicaid and assets transferred used for the benefit of the Medicaid applicant.

2. Another approach would be to wait and hope that the potential applicant does not need nursing home care for 60 months.

3. Another approach would be to evaluate the penalty (divide aggregated transfers by applicable penalty rate at the time of application).

4. The monies could be given back to the potential applicant if the situation is propitious. The ideal situation would be if the applicant had excludable resources for which the funds could be used. That is, if the potential applicant were married and the home needed extensive repairs, the monies could be protected. Similarly, monies could be expended on prepaid funeral funds.

This article should be read in conjunction with Post 18 to give a complete picture of the problem and the issues.




Disclaimer: This article does not constitute legal advice and each person may have unique facts for which legal consultation may be necessary.

© April 2009, Post 72